Chapter Thirty - Five
I managed to escape.
Unfortunately for me, I had nowhere to go.
In the morning, I managed to escape from my dormitory without getting caught. I had thought that it would be difficult to safely escape from my brother's eyes. But it turned out to be fairly easy. Although, I still was not out of my brother's clutches completely.
Today, in a rush of running out of the room, I accidentally picked up my purse instead of Shirley's purse. Thus, now, I have only money for a single meal. I did not have enough money that I could afford to go to a hotel and rent a room for a day. Not that I could do that without any identity card. I thought about going to a cheap motel but it was not anywhere near where I was wandering around.
Not roaming around and checking out different places during my stay at school, was turning out to be way more of a struggle than I had thought that it would be. I thought about all the places where I had been with Mike, even though it pained me a lot and made me want to attempt murder, and realised that they all had been public spaces. Park, movie theatre, hidden places for couples and such. None of those was a place where I could go and take shelter. Well, except for his rented home, which was out of the question.
This was the reason that I was still roaming around the streets without having any clear direction to walk.
It only rubbed salt to the wound, realising that we were always just hanging out like a bunch of teenagers. Hiding, sneaking and slipping away to get a few moments of groping and touching. Even though I know we are teenagers. It made me want to puke my guts out even thinking about it. I had let him touch me when all he was doing was trying to fulfil his some sort of bet.
I sat down on a bench on a sidewalk. It had turned to evening. The sun had set down an hour and a half ago. Like Shirley had asked me, I had switched off my phone in the morning, as soon as I managed to sneak out. Even if I wanted to, I could not switch on my phone to see any messages or a call from Shirley. There was a chance that my brother would track my location through my phone.
I let out a sigh. A tree branch had broken down and a wooden stick had fallen on the ground. I picked it up and began digging the ground with it. There was nothing else for me to do. No matter from which angle I try to understand today's turns and events, I could not. It all went straight up my head. All of it. What information did Ergor find out about me that made him come to my school and beat me up? Not that he wouldn't do that for a very minor mistake, but still.
Today his anger was out of the roof, which was ... natural, but not. Usually, he liked to beat me up for his own sadistic nature, but today, I saw real anger behind his eyes. Today, I felt that there was a reason behind Ergor's anger. There was something about the way he seemed to take out his anger on me today, it was not for the sake of doing it. Instead, it felt real. Way more real.
That made me think. Did he find out what I was doing behind his back? Did he find out that I was going to party behind his back or was it the fact that he found out that I was talking to a boy? Did he find out that Mike and I were dating? Dating ... at least that was what I was doing. Or did he find out I was pregnant? I shivered at the thought of it.
If it was true that he found out that I was pregnant then it raised another question. Who told him that I was pregnant? Or any other thing for that matter. Any reason would be a provocation enough for him to storm into my school and beat me up. Did ... Mike tell him? It was a doubtful question. Mike was an arrogant a-hole and a douchebag, but I did not see any reason for him to tell any of these to my brother. There were no motives behind it. Even if there was then there was no way, he knew who to contact to get me punished for my deeds.
But, then maybe again, I was making excuses for him, like I always did. Maybe, I was letting him off the hook again because my judgement was too blinded when it came to him. Perhaps, giving him another benefit of the doubt was stupidity to me. If he could sell - SELL a human for his next hit, then he could do anything. Anything. And this time, I was not choosing to believe that he was innocent. I gave him the benefit of the doubt once and almost lost my sister as a friend. Now, if I did give him another benefit of the doubt then not only I was stupid but also, I would be the biggest traitor of all the time.
Giving him any leniency would mean betraying Shirley's trust. Once I did do it but not now. Not anymore. Not for him and not for anyone in the world.
A group of birds flew over my head and took my attention away from my thoughts, as I glanced up. The sky was darker now. All the light from the sunset was long gone. It was officially night.
I needed to find shelter. Otherwise, I had to spend the night on the street. Which would not be much different from having to face my brother. The streets were not safe at night. Especially for a teenage girl. I was easy prey for anyone who wanted to harm me.
I stood up. Feeling lost and hopeless. Knowing, there was nowhere for me to go. My stomach let out a big, loud growl. I had not eaten since the morning. My money was limited and I wanted to spend it on a shelter instead of food. But now that I was thinking about it, I knew that I would not be able to settle down anywhere with this amount of money.
Another big, hollow growl. I was bloody hungry. How nice would it be, if I could find both food and shelter with this little money together? To be able to eat and rest at the same place, sounded like heaven to me at that moment. I looked down at my stomach and rubbed it to soothe some ache.
Suddenly, it clicked.
Eat and rest at the same place. Same place.
The house restaurant. Mrs Hanako and Mr Kiyoshi.